“All agencies in the region will be able to talk to each other better,” he said.

The old VHF was running out of channels statewide and there was not enough frequency, according to Marketon.

“[With VHF] we have about three or four channels to choose from,” Marketon said. “If the county has a big incident, we end up talking over each other,” he said, adding the new radios will have about 96 channels.

“These are hopefully going to fix that,” he said.

Since it’s a matching grant, FEMA contributed $895,198 and the departments contributed $223,799. The total cost of the project is estimated at $1,118,997.

For example, the Montrose Fire Department received $80,000 for new radio equipment and it is responsible for $14,000.

Montrose will have 11 portable radios, one base, and eight mobile radios inside the trucks.

The Cokato Fire Department will receive one base, six mobiles for trucks, and 20 portables which will also benefit the ambulance service.

By applying and receiving the grant, the fire departments are saving county taxpayers almost $900,000, Marketon explained.

There may be some additional maintenance costs and user fees for the cost of the county putting in new towers. This cost is yet to be determined

Some of the counties already on the system are Hennepin Carver, and Sherburne. All of the ambulance services, including Allina and Gold Cross, are also switched over.

Other local fire departments will receive the following (numbers were requested by each department on the original grant and may change due to pricing or needs of department):

• Howard Lake  10 portables, one base, and five mobiles for the trucks (also to benefit the ambulance service).